Vapor Heating Type Cooking Apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a vapor heating type cooking apparatus cooking food materials using high pressure vapor as a heat source. A vapor heating type cooking apparatus includes: a vapor supply section generating the high pressure vapor; a vapor supply pipe and a vapor discharge pipe for introducing and discharging the high pressure vapor; a body section including a vapor introduction opening connected to the vapor supply pipe, an interior space having a dual structure so as to circulate the high pressure vapor in the caldron in which food materials are accommodated, a vapor discharge opening provided between the interior space and the vapor discharge pipe; a cooling water supply pipe and a hot water discharge pipe; a lid section including a cooling water introduction opening connected to the cooling water supply pipe, a storage space having a dual structure, in which the cooling water is temporarily stored, and a hot water discharge opening provided between the storage space and the hot water discharge pipe; and a control section for controlling introduction and discharge of the high pressure vapor, the cooling water, and the hot water.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit to Korean Patent Application No.10-2006-0016197 filed on Feb. 20, 2006.

STATEMENT OF FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vapor heating type cooking apparatusfor boiling food materials such as vegetables, meat, fish, andshellfish, medicinal decoctions, etc., and more particularly to a vaporheating type cooking apparatus which can boil food materials such asvegetables, fish, shellfish, meat, bones of meat, etc. at apredetermined temperature, in which vapor is the heat supply source, andcan condense the evaporated vapor again by temporarily storing coolingwater in a lid section to prevent reduction of moisture during cooking.

2. Background of the Related Art

Conventionally, in order to cook cow bone soup, etc., a method in whichfood materials such as vegetables, meat, and bones are put into alarge-sized cooking vessel such as a caldron together with water and areheated for a long time by heat supply of briquettes or gas fuels hasbeen used.

However, in the heat supply method by briquettes or gas fuels, sinceheat is ununiformly transferred to the interior of the cooking vessel,food materials or coagulated soup easily sticks to the cooking vessel oris burned. Further, in order to prevent this, it is necessary tocontinuously stir the cooked materials with a scoop or the like duringcooking.

Further, in the case in which heat is supplied for a long time, muchmoisture is evaporated from foods, and it is necessary to watch thecooking state to supplement water occasionally during cooking. Further,since the cooking vessel should be heated to a predetermined temperatureagain after supplementing the water, energy is wasted and the cookingtime is delayed. Therefore, the nutrition in the materials is destroyeddue to long time heating. Further, the vapor is evaporated to theoutside of the caldron, thereby losing the natural taste and smell ofthe food.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been developed in order to solvethe above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an objectof the present invention is to provide a vapor heating type cookingapparatus which can remove inconveniences for the user and display thenutrition of food materials and the natural taste and smell of the foodby supplying heat by high pressure vapor of a predetermined temperatureand condensing the evaporated vapor again with cooling water temporarilystored in a lid section.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a vapor heatingtype cooking apparatus which can provide hot water for heating andsupply of the hot water using condensation heat of evaporated vapor.

In order to accomplish the objects, there is provided a vapor heatingtype cooking apparatus cooking food materials using high pressure vaporof a predetermined temperature as a heat source, the cooking apparatuscomprising: a vapor supply section generating the high pressure vapor ofthe predetermined temperature; a vapor supply pipe and a vapor dischargepipe for introducing and discharging the high pressure vapor of thepredetermined temperature which is generated in the vapor supplysection; a body section comprising a vapor introduction openingconnected to the vapor supply pipe to introduce the high pressure vapor,an interior space receiving a caldron in which the food materials areaccommodated and having a dual structure for heating the entire caldronby circulating the high pressure vapor introduced from the vaporintroduction opening, a vapor discharge opening provided between theinterior space and the vapor discharge pipe for discharging the highpressure vapor; a cooling water supply pipe through which cooling waterof below a predetermined temperature is introduced and a hot waterdischarge pipe through which hot water of above a predeterminedtemperature is discharged; a lid section disposed at an upper portion ofthe body section to close the caldron, the lid section comprising acooling water introduction opening connected to the cooling water supplypipe to introduce the cooling water, a storage space having a dualstructure, in which the cooling water introduced from the cooling waterintroduction opening is temporarily stored to condense the vapor, and ahot water discharge opening is provided between the storage space andthe hot water discharge pipe to discharge the hot water; and a controlsection for controlling introduction and discharge of the high pressurevapor, the cooling water, and the hot water.

Preferably, the control section may comprise: a temperature sensordetecting the temperature of the interior of the body section and thetemperature of the interior of the hot water discharge section; adisplay window displaying a result detected by the temperature sensor; alogic circuit determining the introduction and the discharge of the highpressure vapor, the cooling water, and the hot water on the basis of theresult detected by the temperature sensor; and an automatic valveoperated by signals transferred by the logic circuit.

Preferably, the hot water discharge pipe may be connected to an externalhot water storage tank to provide the hot water for heating and supplyof the hot water.

Preferably, safety valves may be provided so as to be communicated withthe interior space of the body section and the storage space of the lidsection, respectively to discharge the vapor or the cooling water whenthe pressures of the interior space of the body section and the storagespace of the lid section are above a predetermined value.

As mentioned above, according to the vapor heating type cookingapparatus of the present invention, since the temperature distributionof the caldron is uniform and the heat distribution rate of the caldronis high, the food can be prevented from sticking to the caldron or beingburned. Therefore, the inconvenience for a user of having to stir thefood with a scoop is remarkably improved.

Further, since the vapor generated in the lid section is prevented frombeing discharged outside by the lid section in which the cooling wateris temporarily stored and is condensed to water droplets, which dropinto the caldron, the amount of the soup is not reduced and a user doesnot need to supplement water. Accordingly, the inconvenience caused byhaving to supplement water and wasting energy can be reduced and thecooking time can be reduced. Therefore, destruction of the nutrients ofthe materials can be prevented and the natural taste and smell of thefood can be displayed by shortening the cooking time.

Further, the hot water of above a predetermined temperature can beobtained by using the condensation heat of the vapor generated in thecaldron. The hot water can be stored in an external hot water storagetank for heating or supply of the hot water and can be provided to alodging house such as a hotel, a dormitory, a house, etc., therebyobtaining economical effects such as saving energy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a vapor heating typecooking apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the vapor heating type cookingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the operation of the vapor heating typecooking apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a view showing the used state of the vapor heating typecooking apparatus according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the structure, the operation, and the effects of a vaporheating type cooking apparatus according to the present invention willbe described in detail through a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a vapor heating typecooking apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is across-sectional view showing the vapor heating type cooking apparatusaccording to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a view for explaining theoperation of the vapor heating type cooking apparatus according to thepresent invention. FIG. 4 is a view showing the used state of the vaporheating type cooking apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the vapor heating type cooking apparatus 1according to the present invention receives heat from high pressurevapor of a predetermined temperature to cook food materials accommodatedin a body section 20.

The vapor heating type cooking apparatus 1 is provided with a vaporsupply section 10 generating the high pressure vapor of thepredetermined temperature. A vapor supply pipe 40 for introducing thehigh pressure vapor of the predetermined temperature, which is generatedin the vapor supply section 10, is connected to the vapor supply section10. The body section 20 is provided with a vapor introduction opening 21connected to the vapor supply pipe 40 and has an interior space 22 of adual structure. The interior space 22 of the body section 20 has a shapecapable of receiving a caldron 24. On the other hand, a vapor dischargepipe 50 is connected to the body section 20 to discharge the highpressure vapor from the interior space 22, which has been circulated inthe interior space 22. Further, a vapor discharge opening 23 is providedin the body section 20 so as to be communicated with the vapor dischargepipe 50. A lid section 30 for closing the caldron 24 is disposed at anupper portion of the body section 20. Food materials are accommodated inthe caldron 24.

The lid section 30 is connected to a cooling water supply pipe 60through which cooling water of below a predetermined temperature isintroduced and to a hot water discharge pipe 70 through which hot waterof above a predetermined temperature is discharged. The lid section 30is provided with a cooling water introduction opening 31 communicatedwith the cooling water supply pipe 60 and a hot water discharge opening33 communicated with the hot water discharge pipe 70. Further, the lidsection 30 is provided with a storage space 32 of a dual structure totemporarily store the cooling water introduced from the cooling watersupply pipe 60.

On the other hand, safety valves 26 and 35 are installed in the bodysection 20 and the lid section 30, respectively. The safety valves 26and 35 discharge the high pressure vapor if the pressures of theinteriors of the body section 20 and the lid section 30 reach apredetermined value as the body section 20 and the lid section 30 areheated.

An automatic valve 41, a manometer 43, and a operation timer 42 areprovided in the vapor supply pipe 40 and are operated automatically bythe control section 80 or manually by a user to control the introductionof the high pressure vapor.

An automatic valve 51 is also provided in the vapor discharge pipe 50 tocontrol the discharge of the high pressure vapor.

Referring to FIG. 3, the vapor heating type cooking apparatus 1 furtherincludes a control section 80 detecting the temperatures in theinteriors of the caldron 24 of the body section 20 and the hot waterdischarge opening 33 of the lid section 30 and determining theintroduction and the discharge of the cooling water and the hot water.Temperature sensors 25 and 34 for detecting temperature of the caldron24 and the hot water discharge opening 33 are provided in the caldron 24and the hot water discharge opening 33, respectively. Further, althoughnot shown, a logic circuit determines the introduction and the dischargeof the high pressure vapor, the cooling water, and the hot water on thebasis of a result detected by the temperature sensors 25 and 34.Further, a display window 81 displays the result detected by thetemperature sensors 25 and 34 and the automatic valves 41, 51, 61, and71 are operated according to signals transferred from the logic circuit.

Hereinafter, the overall operation of the vapor heating type cookingapparatus 1 according to the present invention will be described withreference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The vapor supply section 10 such as a boiler generates high pressurevapor of a high temperature, which is introduced into the interior space22 through the vapor supply pipe 40 and the vapor introduction opening21 of the body section 20. In the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, it is preferable that the temperature of the high pressurevapor is 120 to 130 degrees Celsius.

The introduced high pressure vapor of a high temperature is uniformlydiffused into the interior space 22 and functions as a heat source forsupplying heat to the caldron to cook food materials.

The automatic valve 41, the manometer 43, the operation timer 42 of thevapor supply pipe 40 control the introduction of the high pressure vaporin various methods such as an automatic operation of the control section80, an operation according to manipulation of an operation button 82,and an operation according to time setting of a user. The temperature ofthe caldron 24 is determined according to the amount of introduced highpressure vapor.

It is preferable that the body section 20 is formed of stainless steeland has a thickness of more than 0.5 mm to easily transfer heat usingthe vapor and to have the durability in view of the high pressure.

After the high pressure vapor of a high temperature has been used as aheat source in the body section 20, it becomes vapor of a lowtemperature, which is discharged through the vapor discharge opening 23and the vapor discharge pipe 50. The discharged vapor of a lowtemperature is returned to the vapor supply section 10 and is reused ashigh pressure vapor of a predetermined temperature. The discharge of thevapor is controlled by the operation of the automatic valve 51 providedin the vapor discharge pipe 50.

The cooling water of a low temperature is introduced into the storagespace 32 of the lid section 30 through the cooling water supply pipe 60connected to underground water and a water pipe and the cooling waterintroduction opening 31 of the lid section 30. Then, the introduction ofthe cooling water is controlled by the operation of the automatic valve61 provided in the cooling water supply pipe 60. In the preferredembodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the coolingwater is underground water or tap water of below fifteen degreesCelsius.

The introduced cooling water of a low temperature is temporarily storedin the storage space 32 of the lid section 30 and receives condensationheat from the vapor generated in the caldron 24 to become hot water of apredetermined temperature. The condensation heat of the vapor is takenby the cooling water so that water droplets are formed on the outersurface of the storage space 32 of the lid section 30.

The lid section 30 not only prevents the vapor evaporated from the foodmaterials accommodated in the caldron 24 from being discharged to theoutside while the food materials are being cooked by closing the bodysection 20 but also prevents the moisture of the food materials frombeing reduced by condensing the vapor.

A connection ring 36 is formed at a central portion on the upper side ofthe lid section 30 and is engaged with a hook 38. The lid section 30 isseparated from the body section 20 if the connection ring 36 is movedupward by a pulley 37.

It is preferable that the lid section 30 is formed of stainless steeland has a thickness of more than 0.5 mm to easily transfer thecondensation heat of the vapor to the cooling water and to havedurability with respect to a constant pressure.

If the temperature of the cooling water temporarily stored in thestorage space 32 is increased to above a predetermined temperature bythe vapor generated in the caldron 24, the control section 80 operatesthe automatic valve 71 provided in the hot water discharge pipe 70 todischarge the hot water.

That is, the temperature sensor 34 measures the temperature of the hotwater in the hot water discharge opening 33 and transfers the measuredtemperature to the logic circuit. Then, the logic circuit determines thedischarge of the hot water on the basis of the detection result and theautomatic valve 71 is operated according to the signals transferred fromthe logic circuit.

The control section 80 closes the automatic valve 71 of the hot waterdischarge pipe 70 if the temperature of the hot water is below a setvalue. Further, the control section 80 opens the automatic valve 71 tomaintain the temperature of the discharged hot water constantly if thetemperature of the hot water reaches the set value. According to thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that thetemperature of the interior of the hot water discharge opening 33 ismaintained between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius.

The hot water of a predetermined temperature is stored in a hot waterstorage tank 90 for heating or supply of the hot water through the hotwater discharge pipe 70 and is provided to a lodging house such as ahotel, a dormitory, and a house, etc.

On the other hand, if the temperature of the caldron becomes higher orlower than a set temperature, the automatic valves 41 and 51 of thevapor supply pipe 40 and the vapor discharge pipe 50 are opened orclosed to control the introduction and the discharge of the vapor,thereby constantly maintaining the temperature of the caldron 24.

Further, if the pressure in the interior space 22 of the body section 20or the storage space 32 of the lid section 30 becomes excessively highas much vapor or much cooling water is introduced into the interiorspace 22 or the storage space 32, the vapor or the cooling water can bedischarged by operating the safety valves 26 and 35 to safely use thecooking apparatus.

The temperatures of the caldron 24 and the hot water can be constantlymaintained by manipulating the automatic valves 41, 51, 61, and 71 withoperation buttons by a user, with the user seeing the temperaturesindicated on the display window 81 or by setting an operation timer 42.

As mentioned above, since the high pressure vapor introduced into thebody section 20 is uniformly diffused in the interior space 22, thetemperature distribution of the caldron 24 is uniform and the heatdistribution rate of the caldron 24 is high, so that the materials ofcow bone soup or dense soup can be prevented from sticking to thecaldron 24 or being burned even after long cooking. Therefore, theinconvenience for the user of having to stir the soup with a scoop isremarkably reduced.

Further, since the vapor generated in the caldron 24 is not dischargedoutside by the cooling water temporarily stored in the storage space 32of the lid section 30 and is condensed to water droplets which areformed on the outer surface of the storage space 32 and drop into thecaldron 24 again, the amount of soup is not reduced even after longcooking and water does not need to be supplemented frequently, therebyremoving the inconvenience of having to supplement water and wasteenergy and shortening the cooking time. Therefore, destruction ofnutrients in the materials is prevented by shortening the cooking timeand the natural taste and smell of the food can be displayed bypreventing evaporation of the vapor outside the caldron 24.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been describedfor illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatvarious modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in theaccompanying claims.

1. A vapor heating type cooking apparatus cooking food materials usinghigh pressure vapor of a predetermined temperature as a heat source, thecooking apparatus comprising: a vapor supply section generating the highpressure vapor of the predetermined temperature; a vapor supply pipe anda vapor discharge pipe for introducing and discharging the high pressurevapor of the predetermined temperature which is generated in the vaporsupply section; a body section comprising a vapor introduction openingconnected to the vapor supply pipe to introduce the high pressure vapor,an interior space receiving a caldron in which the food materials areaccommodated and having a dual structure for heating the entire caldronby circulating the high pressure vapor introduced from the vaporintroduction opening, a vapor discharge opening provided between theinterior space and the vapor discharge pipe for discharging the highpressure vapor; a cooling water supply pipe through which cooling waterof below a predetermined temperature is introduced and a hot waterdischarge pipe through which hot water of above a predeterminedtemperature is discharged; a lid section disposed at an upper portion ofthe body section to close the caldron, the lid section comprising acooling water introduction opening connected to the cooling water supplypipe to introduce the cooling water, a storage space having a dualstructure, in which the cooling water introduced from the cooling waterintroduction opening is temporarily stored to condense the vapor, and ahot water discharge opening is provided between the storage space andthe hot water discharge pipe to discharge the hot water; and a controlsection for controlling introduction and discharge of the high pressurevapor, the cooling water, and the hot water.
 2. A cooking apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the control section comprises: atemperature sensor detecting the temperature of the interior of the bodysection and the temperature of the interior of the hot water dischargesection; a display window displaying a result detected by thetemperature sensor; a logic circuit determining the introduction and thedischarge of the high pressure vapor, the cooling water, and the hotwater on the basis of the result detected by the temperature sensor; andan automatic valve operated by signals transferred by the logic circuit.3. A cooking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hot waterdischarge pipe is connected to an external hot water storage tank toprovide the hot water for heating and supply of the hot water.
 4. Acooking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein safety valves areprovided so as to be communicated with the interior space of the bodysection and the storage space of the lid section, respectively todischarge the vapor or the cooling water when the pressures of theinterior space of the body section and the storage space of the lidsection are above a predetermined value.